What do I do with this?

dstagl · Post by **dstagl** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 4:39 am

Hello, I've been reading through these forums now for a bit, but I'm still trying to figure out how to layout a new room we're setting up here. I work for a production/post-production house located in downtown Chicago. We're setting up a second audio suite primarily for editing, but also for some mixing along with a small voice over studio. It's primarily broadcast or corporate oriented work so I'm not cranking loud music.

The room is kind of weirdly shaped thanks to a window box and has some issues to deal with. Two walls lead to outside. It's on the third floor and the windows look out on an alley. The other outside wall has open space and is made of concrete. The walls in the room are all drywall, and I don't know how much space there is between the drywall and the outside concrete wall. There are noise problems from the windows so I currently get the sound of garbage trucks a few times a week, people shouting, etc, etc. Another problem with the windows is there's a hospital about a block and a half away so I hear sirens several times a day. One of the other walls butts up against a conference room and leaks a little more than we can handle.

I'm not really sure where to start with this room because of the window box. We thought of maybe adding another layer of window and sealing that, but right now the noise is pretty bad--I wouldn't want to track in there. We also thought of just walling off the window, but I would like to keep the windows if possible because it's nice to have windows even if they just look at another building across the way. Right now the room has a drop ceiling that is 9' high. I'm not sure if we can remove that--it looks to me like the grid might be through the entire floor.

Any ideas on where to start? The room is going to be based around a Pro Tools TDM system with a couple of small nearfields. There will be a Mackie HUI for a control surface, but not much more outboard gear. We'll probably want to hang a display monitor(maybe 21" or more) for mixing to picture up and behind the DAW/console area. Currently the computer is in our machine room, but I'm thinking of maybe building an ISO box for it to move it into the control room. I need to be able to fit an engineer in the control room plus at least 2 more people, but preferably 4(might be pushing it). We will also probably want to add a little table near the clients which might also hold a notebook running Pro Tools LE as well.

For treatment, I'm thinking of constructing bass traps ala Ethan Winer's. Maybe install a false ceiling with hanging absorption above. I don't want to get into anything too complicated to construct. The voice over studio might end up being something modular from Wenger so I'm not worried about that. I don't think we want to bother with floating the control room floor, though.

I've attached a diagram of the current floorplan that is just about to scale(angles on the windows probably aren't). The "unknown" area is just more of the building that I'm not sure what it is, and can't really get into. If you've got any ideas, please let me know. There is currently no wall between the control room and VO studio.

Thanks!!
Dave

Post by **John Sayers** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 9:55 am

Perthaps you could try something like this - you still get the outside light in but not the noise and the vox booth adds on easily.

cheers
john

dstagl · Post by **dstagl** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 12:37 am

I like that, John. Here's an idea I had, but yours is looking like it might be easier to to do.

I'm thinking of putting another wall on the north side of the room and putting storage within the wall. Then two walls in front of the two side windows and a new pane in front of the center with possibly some thick black curtains in front of that window. Any foreseeable problems with this?

Post by **John Sayers** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 9:31 am

yeah - but I would do it like this

cheers
john